FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why were stamps perforated ?

For many years, postage stamps could be used for payment of small bills and could be cashed on presenting them at a Post Office. This naturally led to the risk of the stamps being stolen.

However, the Post Office would not accept stamps that had been perforated, thus reducing their value if stolen. In addition, unlike previous security methods such as underprinting, the original owner of the stamp could still be identified even if the stamp were used as postage.

Who Invented the Perfin ?

The invention of the perfin is credited to the British inventor Joseph Sloper who, after much effort, finally persuaded The Post Office to allow the perforation of British postage stamps. The official authorisation was given on 13th March 1868.
Letter of 13th March 1868 to Sloper from the GPO

Official authorisation to perfin Foreign Bill and Inland Revenue stamps was given on 27th June 1870.
Letter of 27th June 1870 to Sloper from the Inland Revenue

His case was no doubt strengthened by a well publicised incident involving a provisions shop keeper charged with receiving some 7,000 "stolen" postage stamps which had been accepted in payment for bread and cheese, the stamps coming from errand-boys and junior clerks.

The firm that he founded - J. Sloper & Co. - established a sizeable perforating business which none of their competitors could overtake. The firm was taken over in the 1990s.
Click here to see a photograph of Sloper's offices in the City of London

However the original idea had been suggested by Sir Henry Bessemer in 1832. At the time, the world's first postage stamps were still 8 years away and hence the application was for the protection of the revenue stamps of the time.

What is the earliest perfin ?

How many Perfins are there ?

24,653 different perfin designs had been catalogued on British postage stamps by the end of 2017, more than for any other country, and new dies are being regularly discovered. It is thought that around 25,000 different dies may exist. Over 1,300 different perfins can be found on the 1d Red, which illustrates just how quickly the perfin became a popular method of protecting stocks of stamps (the 1d red being withdrawn in 1880, 12 years after perfins were introduced).

Approximately half of perfin dies have had their user identified. More perfin users are still being identified, these new identities being published in the society's Bulletin.

What's the most common Perfin ?

The Great Western Railway were once prolific users of perfins and hence their perfins are quite common on the early issues.

Can all G.B. stamps be found perforated ?

Almost all stamps in use between 1868 and the late 1950's can be found with perfin. However, from 1960, with the Post Office regularly producing commemorative issues, combined with the decline in perfin use in later years, it should come as no surprise that many of the later issues are not recorded perfinned.

List of GB definitive issues not known perfinned.

Were only postage stamps perfinned ?

Revenue and telegraph stamps were equally open to theft and hence such issues also turn up perfinned. Although the primary focus of the Perfin Society is the study of perfins on postage stamps, these other issues are popular with many members of the society.

The official authorisation to perfin Foreign Bill and Inland Revenue stamps was given on 27th June 1870.
Click here to see the letter of 27th June 1870 to Sloper

These stamps frequently appear in our auctions and Society member Jeff Turnbull has published catalogues of perfins on Foreign Bill and Contract Note stamps.

Click here to view the perfin revenue stamps catalogues

What is the biggest perfin ?

What is the smallest perfin ?

Are perfins still used ?

In later years, many firms switched to using franking machines. In addition current postage rates are worth only a fraction of their 1860's values in real terms. The need to use perfins has thus greatly diminished. However, a few perfin users still remain, the majority being used by local councils.

In recent years, philatelic perfins have appeared that don't serve a real security purpose, used by philatelic organisations and individual perfin collectors.

How much are they worth ?

As a general rule, a perforated stamp is a damaged stamp and as such a figure of 10% - 20% of catalogue value. However to a perfin collector it is the perfin die itself that tends to be the main interest, so high value stamps may drop to a lower percentage than the more common stamps. A good illustration of this can be found with the 1d red issues, where the value of a perfin on a common plate is higher than without the perfin, yet little more is paid for the scarcer plates.

Perfinned stamps on cover are worth more when the cover identifies the user of the perfin. A perfin on a cover with no user identity is of less interest, although such covers can still provide useful information such as the place and date of use and the addressee may provide clues as to the user's trade.

There are of course particular dies that are worth a premium, some due to true scarcity or others being more desirable such as elaborate designs. There is no publication that can be used to value individual dies as such a task would be next to impossible. However a good guide is to follow the results of the Perfin Society's auction.

I have a perfin that is reversed. Is it worth more ?

Reversed perfins come about naturally so are not worth more. Often a sheet of stamps would be folded prior to perforation, as a result of which various orientations are encountered. This is illustrated in the strip shown on the right.
This item also illustrates a potential problem of folding prior to perforation, in that the stamps towards the bottom of the folded sheet are often not fully punctured (right hand stamp in above illustration). Stamps where the perfin has such "blind" holes generally command lower prices than stamps with clear perfins.

Similarly, horizontal folding would result in perfins that are both inverted and reversed.

How do I learn more about the Perfin Society ?

Click here for our history (pdf file)

How do I join the Perfin Society ?

Click here for joining information